‘Why Nigeria’s poor rating in corruption index should concern those in power’

Nigeria’s poor rating in corruption perception index and other indicators of public probity should be cause for concern to government officials because they are stagnating the country’s growth, a former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi, has said.

Amadi made the remark as the guest speaker at the 6th Annual Lecture of Just Friends Club of Nigeria (JFCN) which was held on Tuesday, in Abuja.

The topic of Amadi’s lecture was  ‘High Cost Of Governance As An Impediment To Development.’

“Nigeria faces an acute crisis of values which reflects in the gross lack of productivity in both its private and public sectors. As a world leading producer of oil, we ought to be richer than we are. But we know that the wealth of nations does not come mostly from natural resources.

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“Countries like Singapore and South Korea are not so much naturally endowed. In fact, they are geographically constrained in many ways. But Nigeria won the geographical lottery in many ways. Yet are in many ways we are victim of Dutch Disease. Natural resources have not translated into wealth. They have mostly turned into a curse,” Amadi lamented.

He added: “Natural resources in themselves are not a curse. They are a blessing. But a blessing that calls for more work to turn them into lasting benefit to the people. Some of the Scandinavian countries are endowed with oil like Nigeria.

“They turned theirs into a blessing through smart policies and management. For them, oil resources have lubricated national innovation system that has made them high income economies. Examples are Norway and Finland.”

Dr Amadi, who is currently the Director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, remarked that Nigeria’s travail is partly the lack of good leadership that can mobilise citizens toward a virtuous path of productivity.

He added that such leadership is often described as transformative or redefining.

He noted that currently, Nigeria has  a low-quality public education and a dysfunctional public service structure that weaken the capacity of the Nigerian state to deliver development.

“Capacity is an important ingredient of development. With low capacity a country may not be able to generate good policies and effectively implement them.

“Lessons from successful Asian countries underline the importance of state capacity. These countries succeeded because they have capacity to design good policies and implement them with coherence and effectiveness,” he said.

In his welcome remarks, the president of JFCN, Mr Fred Ohwahwa, said from whatever angle one looks at it, Nigeria is an apology to its vibrant citizens, the African continent, and the Black race.

“We are far behind in virtually all metrics of development. And this is in spite of abundant human and material resources the country is blessed with,” he stated.

The lecture was chaired by Olorogun Peter Igho, a  former Executive Director (Programmes) of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and  former Director General of National Lottery Regulatory Commission.